Transgenders protest ban on ‘performance’ in Bannu

BANNU: The members of transgender community on Thursday staged a sit-in against the ban on their performance at wedding parties. They gathered outside the Bannu Press Club and staged the sit-in. The speakers said that the administration had imposed a ban on the performance of transgender in the district some six years ago. They said the ban in other districts was lifted and transgenders were conditionally allowed to perform in parties and other programmes but the restrictions in Bannu were still intact. They said performing in celebratory functions was their lone source of income.

Pakistani columnist Farman Nawaz, who previously ran an Urdu Weekly Jirga Bannu, is the editor of The Bannu Times. Nawaz also runs an online newspaper Khyber Pakhtunkhwa News and KAS Research Journal. Nawaz has written English articles for Global Times China , Daily Outlook Afghanistan and several leading English newspapers of Pakistan. He had also worked as a blogger for Express News TV Network website.